Tag Archives: twitter

It’s here: the biggest action movie for gadget geeks, Iron Man, returns with a sequel, and you can see just how high-tech it’ll all be in the Iron Man 2 trailer, now available on YouTube.

Besides a long-haired, electric whip-wielding Mickey Rourke, the movie features more iron man suits than you could ever desire, and you get to see most of them ripped apart to shreds. Yes, this thing is destined for success. Check out the trailer below.

Tumblr, one of the simplest blogging platforms around, is doing really well. Situated between WordPress, which requires a bit more effort to create and organize content, and Twitter, which requires almost no effort but also doesn’t offer many features, Tumblr is the perfect tool for users who want to have a blog with photos, videos, and other content embedded, but simply hasn’t got the time or the will to struggle with a complex blogging platform.

How is this working out for them? Well, according to the neat infographic which they’ve sent us (see below), their traffic and user base is growing fast, and they’ve recently hit some major milestones.

Last but not least, Tumblr plans to launch two revenue generating features next month. Details are scarce (all we know is they’ll be powered by the widget, pictured below, but with constant talk of Twitter’s revenue generating plans (which are still completely open to interpretation), it’ll be interesting to see how Tumblr plans to tackle the issue. Its success (or lack thereof) might pave the way for microblogging networks (although Tumblr arguably stands in the middle, between blogging and microblogging), an area traditionally devoid of revenue.

The United States defines these nations as “closed societies” because their governments sometimes try to restrict the free flow of information between citizens, however in many cases trade is restricted by the United States in response to those actions. This new license would allow U.S.-based Internet companies like Yahoo to export certain services that can be described as “free mass-market software,” despite trade sanctions.

The U.S. State Department and members of Congress previously recommended this move to aid efforts to open up the societies in question. The value of exporting these tools has already been established.

We’re curious to know how our readers in the United States and elsewhere feel about this move. If you’re willing, share your thoughts in the comments, and participate in our poll: “Is the Internet a fundamental right?”

In a study conducted by the BBC World Service, four in five respondents said they believe web access is a fundamental right. 90% described the Internet as “a great place to learn,” and 78% considered it a source of “greater freedom.” A bit more than half said that the Internet should not be regulated by government at all.

27,000 people form 26 countries were surveyed, and their responses varied by location. While a large number of people from the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Korea said the Internet shouldn’t be regulated, many residents of China, Pakistan and Turkey disagreed; only 16% of Chinese, 12% of Pakistani and 13% of Turkish respondents said the Internet shouldn’t be regulated.

We’re always curious where our readers stand, especially since this is a hot issue right now with the recent struggle between Google and China. Where do you fall on this issue? Take part in the poll below, and feel free to elaborate in the comments.

The iPhone and iPod touch app for the popular location check-in service Foursquare has temporarily dropped from Apple’s App Store.

The Android and BlackBerry versions are still available, but the iPhone is by far the most popular platform for Foursquare users. This is just a temporary technical setback, though. Foursquare tweeted the following.

Earlier this week, the new 1.6 version of the Foursquare iPhone app was accidentally added to the App Store before it was ready. The problem was corrected, but now people who have 1.6 are unable to use the service. They’re being directed to the app store to download the regular version, but it’s not there.

Foursquare is in the middle of unveiling new features and deals so these technical issues could have come at a better time, but it won’t be a major setback. Don’t worry, Foursquare fans; you can keep looking forward to the new features in version 1.6 this week.

Update: We’ve heard from Foursquare that the app should be back tomorrow.

As a result of failed contract negotiations, Disney pulled New York affiliate ABC7 off of cable company Cablevision’s channel lineup early this morning, leaving over 3 million people without a channel to watch the Oscars on tonight unless they tune in over the air.

We’d like to offer those 3 million people the following online viewing alternatives. These options will also be good extra material for folks who do have the ability to watch on their TVs.

For the Ceremony: Liveblogs

The live video options on this list won’t cover the Oscars ceremonies; they’ll just plug you in to what’s going on on the red carpet and backstage. If you want to follow the awards show itself without turning on the TV, liveblogs are your best option.

As with the other choices on our list here, these can also be supplements to over-the-air, cable or satellite TV viewing. Here are a few to choose from.

Oscar.com Facebook Webcast

ABC’s live red carpet show streams stream at Oscar.com from 3:00 to 5:00 PM PT (6:00 to 8:00 PM ET). The stream will be attached to a Facebook discussion engine, and many of the reporters’ questions will be pulled from there.

After the ceremony starts you’ll be given a look backstage, but there won’t be a live stream of the ceremony itself. You might get an even more in-depth experience, though. Oscar.com will host a “Thank You Cam” for award winners who want to say more than they did on stage.

TVGuide.com

TVGuide’s “fashion cam” will probably be minimalistic but it will be sufficient for seeing all the fantastic clothes the stars will wear as they walk down the red carpet. We’re not able to embed it here because TVGuide hasn’t provided a way to do so yet, but we do have the link to TVGuide’s Oscar video library. We’ll add it as soon as it’s up.

As a result of failed contract negotiations, Disney pulled New York affiliate ABC7 off of cable company Cablevision’s channel lineup early this morning, leaving over 3 million people without a channel to watch the Oscars on tonight unless they tune in over the air.

We’d like to offer those 3 million people the following online viewing alternatives. These options will also be good extra material for folks who do have the ability to watch on their TVs.

For the Ceremony: Liveblogs

The live video options on this list won’t cover the Oscars ceremonies; they’ll just plug you in to what’s going on on the red carpet and backstage. If you want to follow the awards show itself without turning on the TV, liveblogs are your best option.

As with the other choices on our list here, these can also be supplements to over-the-air, cable or satellite TV viewing. Here are a few to choose from.

Oscar.com Facebook Webcast

ABC’s live red carpet show streams stream at Oscar.com from 3:00 to 5:00 PM PT (6:00 to 8:00 PM ET). The stream will be attached to a Facebook discussion engine, and many of the reporters’ questions will be pulled from there.

After the ceremony starts you’ll be given a look backstage, but there won’t be a live stream of the ceremony itself. You might get an even more in-depth experience, though. Oscar.com will host a “Thank You Cam” for award winners who want to say more than they did on stage.

TVGuide.com

TVGuide’s “fashion cam” will probably be minimalistic but it will be sufficient for seeing all the fantastic clothes the stars will wear as they walk down the red carpet. We’re not able to embed it here because TVGuide hasn’t provided a way to do so yet, but we do have the link to TVGuide’s Oscar video library.

Update: The issue between ABC and Cablevision been resolved with a tentative deal between the two companies. The ABC affiliate is back on the network for now, but that happened after the Academy Awards had already begun.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderlanddrew almost $40 million in box office revenue on Friday, setting the stage for what will likely have been a $100 million (or more) weekend. The film will definitely beat the previous record for this weekend of the year — $70 million, set by 300 in 2006.

The film is notable as Burton’s first major 3D release. Despite the backlash from filmgoing traditionalists, it looks like 3D is drawing audiences. (Also notable – some scenes were simply filmed in 2D and converted to 3D later, which some argue is not true 3D.)

Last year, James Cameron’s Avatar shattered all previous box office records to become the highest-earning film of all time by earning nearly $2 billion. 3D technology was one of Avatar’s biggest draws. Now Alice’s performance indicates that Avatar’s success wasn’t totally an anomaly for 3D movies.

Unlike Avatar, Alice has received mostly lukewarm critical responses. We’ll have to keep our ears to the ground to see if the circulation of critics’ negative reviews and mediocre buzz on Twitter, Facebook and blogs cause a big dip in ticket sales next weekend.

Here at Mashable we’ve been testing the service and although a search can be carried out successfully (if slowly) trying to click through to specific items returns an error message: “We could not complete your iTunes Store request. An unknown error occurred (504).”

It seems many Twitter users are having similar problems. Recently tweeted iTunes-themed comments include “what’s wrong with iTunes today?” and “iTunes Store not working/slow. Anyone having the same problem?”

Cliff Atkinson is author of The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever (New Riders, 2009).

What do you do when you’re giving a presentation, and notice that your audience is looking down, busily typing on their laptops and smartphones? And what about when you get the sense that they are turning against you?

When audiences use Twitter and other tools to communicate with one another during live presentations, they create a new “backchannel” where they share comments, questions and sometimes criticisms about the person speaking.

This new dynamic has led to high-profile blowups between presenters and audiences, which makes it more important than ever for presenters to do the right things to avoid similar disasters.

To short-circuit a possible disaster, keep in mind these five things you can do to prepare and engage the backchannel.

1. Calibrate Your Content so You Don’t Misfire

One of the major causes of backchannel disasters is a mismatch between what audiences expect, and what you deliver. Make sure you match your audience expectations when you are planning your material by using Twitter to reach out to the followers who will be in attendance. Ask for their feedback. Query them about challenges they are facing that you can help resolve, case studies of how they tackled situations related to your topic, or suggestions of what you should be sure to cover.

2. Defuse the Snark Bomb Before it Blows Up on You

Audience members who use Twitter during a live presentation will often assume the speaker is not paying attention to their comments, so they may be more prone to be snarky or say things they wouldn’t say to you face-to-face. Prevent this dynamic at the outset by publicly welcoming audience members using Twitter and let them know you’ll be monitoring what they write, and possibly reading aloud to the whole audience what they tweet.

3. Spark the Conversation Early and Often

The whole point of social media is that people want to get more involved in experiences, rather than be passive recipients of opinions pronounced from on high. To get people more involved, plan your material in a way that allows you to take Twitter breaks.

When you break, switch over to a browser, review the audience tweets and respond to questions both from the backchannel and from the live audience. These breaks give you the chance to take the temperature of the audience, make sure you’re on track, and to make any adjustments to your presentation based on the feedback you get.

4. Grab the Twecklers Off of the Web and Into the Room

When you take a Twitter break and review comments, you may find that audience members made negative remarks or even heckled you. What should you do? You’ll need to make a judgment call here –- if you can’t do anything about the issue, or if it reflects the personal view of that one person, you might just ignore it.

But if the comment is disruptive and you see it’s affecting the comments of others, you may need to address it directly. In that case, read the comment out loud to the audience, and take a poll of how many people agree with the comment. If many people agree, ask the individual to explain it further, and then address it. If only a few people concur, let the commenter know you’ll be glad to talk further after the presentation and move on.

5. Don’t Stick Your Fingers in the Social Media Socket

The last thing you want to do is lose control of your presentation because you’re overwhelmed. Trying to deliver your presentation while monitoring the information flowing from the Twitterstream can be difficult. If it’s too much to do both, which is the case for most people, focus on your delivery first, then engage the backchannel when you turn your attention to it during Twitter breaks. That way you accomplish what you came to do –- delivering an effective, memorable presentation as you promised in your session description, as well engaging and involving your audience during breaks.

We’ve already brought you a how-to guide to get started with Spotify (read that first if you don’t know what it is), but now we’re delving a little deeper into the music streaming software with a look at some hints, tips and tricks that will help you get the most of the service.

Have a read below to see eight great ways to make your Spotify experience smoother, both within the service and via third-party services. And, as always, do be sure to let us know in the comments if there are any great Spotify user hints you have to share.

1. Advanced Search Options

While you’ll likely find tons of music you like by browsing around Spotify’s click-based system, there will be times you want to find a specific track and don’t want to muck around with fuzzy searches or the like. That’s where Spotify’s advanced search options come into their own.

Simple search terms include sticking title:, album: and artist: at the front of a text-based search query to narrow down results to those three fields, but you can further refine searches for an even more targeted result.

If you wanted a quick trip down memory lane, you could search year:1999 to bring up tracks tagged with that particular year. Likewise, you can search a range of years through year:1999-2004. You can follow the same logic to search by genre, so genre:blues will offer you up a vast range of blues tracks in a jiffy.

This gets advanced when you combine those terms to get a smaller list of results, hopefully containing just what it was you were looking for. Say you only like the old Fleetwood Mac. To get songs you know you want to hear, you could type artist:”fleetwood mac” year:1967-1975.

2. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Those of you skilled in the ways of keyboard shortcuts will be pleased to note that Spotify has a ton that will have you control-clicking quickly around the software in no time at all. While some are the same as you’re already used to (e.g cut is control-x or command-x, and paste is the same with v), here are some of the main shortcuts we’ve found useful, for both Windows PCs and Macs.

Play and pause: Spacebar / Spacebar

Turn the volume up: Control-Up / Command-Up

Turn the volume down: Control-Down / Command-Down

Mute the audio: Control-Shift-Down / Command-Shift-Down

Skip to the next song: Control-Right / Control-Command-Right

Go back to the previous song: Control-Left / Control-Command-Left

Make a new playlist: Control-N / Command-N

Land on the search box: Control-L / Command-L

Go back: Alt-Left / Command-[

Go forward: Alt-Right / Command-]

Logout (close in a hurry): Control-Shift-W / Command-Shift-W

3. View All Versions of a Song

Spotify shows a little circular symbol with an arrow below a line when there is more than one version of a particular song. This feature can be useful if you’ve found the right song, but the wrong version.

As an example, say you look up Bob Dylan’s Girl From The North Country but it’s not the version you wanted with Johnny Cash. If you click the symbol, Spotify will display that version too, as well as any others it may have in its database.

This feature is not perfect — it didn’t group Gary Numan’s remastered version of Cars in with the other versions, for example — but is generally a handy way of finding alternative, acoustic, live, or radio edit versions of songs.

4. Enable Last.fm Scrobbling

This one’s not rocket science, but it is a feature that’s not exactly promoted so we thought it worthy of mention. As with other music software, like iTunes, et al., Spotify can scrobble the music you are playing on Spotify to Last.fm (i.e. send it to your Last.fm profile).

It’s super-simple to enable this link-up. Just go to the edit menu from the top-right menu bar, click preferences, scroll down three or so options and you’ll see a Last.fm box. If you enter your Last.fm username and password and check the “Enable scrobbling to Last.fm” button, it will do just that.

5. Decode Spotify URLs

If you’ve seen someone tweeting a track, or happened across a Spotify URL that you’re curious about but don’t want to launch the application (or aren’t on a Spotified computer) there’s a site that offers “decoding” of such mysterious URL strings.

Head over to http://spotify.url.fi/ and you’ll see a box to enter the text into. Once you do, the track or album will be revealed to you. It’s a pretty basic site, as you’ll see from the results screen grab above, but it works, and will get you the data you require with minimum fuss.

6. Clean Up Your Spotify URLs

As well as decoding them, you can also use a tool that will get a little more info out of your Spotify URLs. Instead of the seemingly random string of numbers and letters, Cleanify will take your HTTP link and add the artist’s name and track’s title while preserving the Spotify direct link.

7. Shorten Spotify URLs

There are a few services that help you shorten the long Spotify URLs so that you can actually get a word in edgewise if you wanted to retweet it, for example.

We think a really neat option is spo.tl (slogan: Shorter, prettier Spotify links), a Spotify-focused URL shortener that not only squishes down the URL to a manageable size, but offers direct links to Facebook and Twitter for easy sharing.

Clicking through to Twitter auto-pastes the artist name and song title (as well as the new URL) in the text box, while Facebook click-throughs generate the album art too, just as with a direct FB share from within Spotify.

8. It’s Not Just Music

You may well have signed up to the Spotify service because of all that sweet, free, streaming music, but now you’re creating a zillion playlists, microblogging your music taste to all, and playing “guess the song” with your cubicle buddies. What else does Spotify offer?

Well, a fair bit more than just music. Comedy is one thing — there’s tons of stand-up material available. Audiobooks are another, with Chris Anderson’s Free the first such title to debut last year. There are also audio travel guides, speeches and podcasts — in fact, a veritable wealth of non-music audio exists on Spotify. However, there is a catch.

At present, there is no way to easily identify non-music content available, not even via a genre search. The only way you will come across such content is by searching by keyword or the artist’s name with the option to click through to “Related Artists” (on the top-right of an artist’s homepage) for more suggestions.

It’s a bit of an omission from Spotify, so we hope that an update will bring such functionality — and soon.

It seems hundreds of Twitter accounts have started to Tweet out “weight loss” product spam today.

Specifically, users who have had their accounts hijacked are Tweeting the message “I lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks!” and links to diet sites. Our source counts over 200 rogue tweets so far tonight.

It’s not just new users getting caught out: famous tech pundit John C. Dvorak (@therealdvorak) got caught up in the attack, and was none too pleased.

At this point we’re unsure of the cause: Access could have been gained through previous phishing schemes. However, one factor points to a likely suspect: all the Tweets are posted via “API”, meaning the spammers do not have direct access to the accounts. Rather, there’s likely some third party application that’s been compromised (or a rogue one permitted by the users) that’s pushing spam Tweets.

We certainly wouldn’t advocate turning your office, cubicle or home office into some kind of over-the-top dork theme park, but a few witty items carefully placed here and there can brighten up the dullest work space with some geek chic.

Having an office gives you the chance to display things you might not get away with (or indeed, want to get away with) at home. From magnificent magnets to clever clocks and wall decals, here’s a choice of ten products that will help you geek-pimp your work space in style.

These Meninos coasters are styled after the iPhone’s icons giving Apple fans somewhere cool to stick their cups. Made of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) with a durable vinyl finish and a rubber bottom to stop slips, the anally retentive among you could arrange them on the coffee table as precisely as they appear on the phone’s homescreen, while the rest of us can mix ‘em up as we see fit. Oh, and if the iPhone’s not your thing, then Meninos also offers an Internet-themed set too.

As well as adding a splash of color to your office walls, this poster will serve as inspiration, reminding you that a small, simple idea can grow into big, fat success. The million dollar home page poster is an exact replica of the original Web page, measuring 60cm x 60cm with a gloss finish. Heck, if you’re feeling flush yourself, you could even frame it.

Let your visitors know that they are entering a geek domain right from the start with this recycled rubber doormat that is modeled after the “Enter” key. Designed by Pieter Woudt, there’s also a “Home” key version if whoever you share a domicile with will let you get away with geeking out your porch.

We can’t think of a better way to stick your team pics to the fridge or filing cabinet than with these Photoshop-themed magnets, another little gem from Meninos. The set comprises 13 magnets which will be very familiar to anyone who has used the photo editing software as they replicate the menus and tool bars found in the popular Adobe product.

As any fashion-lover will know, it’s all about the accessories. In this case, the essential office accessory is the Red Swingline Stapler. Launched in 2002 after strong customer demand generated by the stapler’s appearance in geek cult classic Office Space, the desk tool will elicit knowing approval from fans of the film. Just be sure to hide it when Lumberg’s around.

What’s the time? It’s geek o’ clock with these recycled Mac clocks offered by Etsy seller Pixelthis. The version pictured ($59) is the side panel of a retired Mac G4, upcycled into a working wall clock. There’s a whole selection over on Pixelthis’ Etsy shop, while commissions and customization of anything you want to send in to get the timepiece treatment are offered too, with price by negotiation.

Don’t put up with boring chinaware, or worse still, ugly corporate freebie mugs. These officially licensed mugs from Pantone will delight anyone with an eye for color, or even a passing interest in design. The espresso set offers appropriate shades of coffee brown, whilst the more colorful set provides 10 shades — all marked with their Pantone reference, of course.

By all accounts, the Googleplex is a place of wonder. You can emulate a little bit of that magic with the Google Bean Bag — the very same kind gracing the Googleplex. Who knows what kind of gProducts have been thought up while someone’s posterior was placed on one of these things? Inspirational, indeed.

The Art Lebedev Studio has transformed “Cancel,” “Play,” “Save,” “OK,” and other commands into real-life objects with a useful function — the thumbtack. You can opt for the mixed set, or if you’re feeling particularly positive, go for the “Everything Is OK” set which is made up, as you might have already guessed, of just the “OK” pins. We simply can’t think of a better way to secure items to a bulletin board.

Blik offers a way to geek up your blank walls that is ideal for the commitment-phobe: Vinyl decals that can be peeled off it you get bored of them, or if your office landlord has a tizzy when he/she sees them. There are a few designs available that will turn your wall into a scene from a Super Marios Bros. game, or the classic Space Invaders. There are some pretty cool robots, too.

Independent research boutique ChangeWave surveyed 3,171 consumers and found that consumer pre-launch interest in the iPad is high.

Data demonstrates that consumers are more interested in purchasing an iPad than they were the iPhone prior to launch. Also, 27% of existing e-reader owners indicated they would have purchased the iPad over the model they own now.

The study — which was conducted after the iPad announcement — also shows that 40% of respondents in the market to purchase an e-reader in the next 90 days say they will buy an iPad.

That number is quite remarkable on its own, but when compared against the respondents who indicated preferences for the Kindle (28%), Nook (6%), and Sony Reader (1%) the bigger picture starts to become clear. If these numbers are reflective of the larger population, Apple is most certainly a threat to Amazon and the e-book/e-reader industry as a whole.

Some other interesting highlights from the ChangeWave study include:

- Prospective iPad buyers are likely to wait a few months before they make their purchase. 20% will buy two to three months after release, 23% four to six months after release, and 19% seven to 12 months after release.

- 68% of prospective iPad owners are most interested in using the iPad to surf the internet.

- 25% of consumers buying iPads may cut back on previous plans to purchase other Apple products. 10% are putting their iPhone purchase plans on hold, while 9% are saying they may not buy the laptop or iPod they had previously planned to.

Given that the iPad launch date is just a few weeks away, we should soon be able to tell how accurate some of these findings are and whether or not the iPad will put a significant dent into Amazon Kindle sales.

Enterprising hobbyists Tim Heath and Ryan Hickman have created cellbots — with names like Tankbot and Truckbot — that are simply robots powered by Android devices.

With just $30, an Android device, and a little creativity the pair were able to create the cellbots which process commands via telnet on PCs. The bots can move around in specified directions thanks to the built-in compass functionally on certain Android phones.

While actual robot activity is minimal, the focus of the project was to utilize Android phones as the brains of the robots. The pair hope to expand robot functionality and make the most of Android’s software. Wired speculates that:

“This means they could utilize every hardware and software component of an Android phone, programming the bot to avoid obstacles, recognize faces and voices, pinpoint its location and go places.”

Heath and Hickman have documented the entire project on their cellbots website, which means that with the right know-how you too could create your own Android-powered robot.

Not one to mince words, Steve Jobs squashed all hope of the iPad supporting iPhone tethering for wireless internet access with one word — “No.”

The succinct answer was communicated by Jobs via email (from his iPhone) to Jezper Söderlund of Sweden who emailed Jobs to ask, “Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?”

9to5Mac has both emails in question, along with email header information, and all indications point to the one word buzz-kill response being legit. You can read the text of the email inquiry and Jobs’ response below:

Söderlund’s email:

I’ll keep it short.

I’m Jezper from Sweden, a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I’m also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question:

Will the wifi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone?

Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant.

From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible.

All the best, Jezper Söderlund[a famous DJ in his own right]

Jobs’ response:

No.

Sent from my iPhone

The bottom line is that those of you who were hoping to buy the cheaper WiFi version of the iPad and tether your iPhone for 3G Internet access (and avoid the additional 3G hardware costs and AT&T subscription plan) are out of luck.

From a consumer perspective, the news is quite disappointing. One would hope that the costly iPhone data plan would be applicable to the iPad. The idea of paying a per device monthly wireless Internet fee is one that won’t sit well with most consumers. The decision doesn’t exactly come as a surprise though. We already know that AT&T is facing network challenges, which they blame on heavy iPhone users, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to encourage or support additional bandwidth without additional fees.

Popular music magazine SPIN is going geeky for South by Southwest’s music festival, integrating custom Foursquare badges into its event presence and rewarding the most adventurous users of the location-based game with free tickets to their annual music showcase at Stubb’s.

Festival goers who check-in at music venues can earn points and collect the four custom SPIN badges. Each badge — should you attempt to unlock it — offers a unique experience of the festival and turns the SXSW music experience into a complex scavenger hunt.

Don’t expect these badges to come easy. To earn the SPINsider badge, users will need to check out three bands that SPIN editors recommend. For the Trailblazer badge, users are tasked to see three shows outside of downtown Austin. As for the Animal Collector badge, that requires seeing three bands with an animal in their name, while the Bands on the Run challenges the most diehard of fans to see seven bands in one day.

Of course those that make the effort to unlock the badges could be gifted with a handsome reward — two free tickets to SPIN’s annual showcase SPIN@STUBB’s, which features both up-and-coming artists and more recognizable names like Hole. Unlock the badges and be one of the first ten people to present them at the SPIN loft and the tickets are yours.

SPIN’s Foursquare badge challenge is quite remarkable. From our perspective we see this partnership as a sign that Foursquare’s service transcends the techset, appeals to mainstream audiences, and can apply to any vertical.

The battle for social geolocation domination has expanded to Google’s Android platform, as Gowalla, the primary competitor to Foursquare, has just made its debut on Google’s Android app store.

The new Gowalla 1.0 app isn’t some secondhand version of its iPhone counterpart — it’s completely packed with an array of features that allow you to check into locations, view friends, access details about specific locations, and check out your progress completion for trips (a Gowalla feature that lets you earn badges by checking into a set of locations).

Essentially, the app is divided into four sections: Activity (a feed of your friend’s activity stream), Spots (where you find nearby locations to check into), Trips (explained above), and Passport (your personal profile and list of achievements). Each section drills deeper, allowing you to add friends, view maps of specific locations (along with the number of check-ins and people there), or complete a trip.

Here’s the gist of it: Gowalla for Android, from first impressions, is well-designed and has many of the features of its iPhone counterpart, though as Android and Me points out, you can’t create a location within the app quite yet.

It needed to be slick and feature-rich to compete with Foursquare’s Android app (which I think in many ways is superior to its iPhone version). Whether it succeeded…well, that’ll take some time. Gowalla users, be sure to tell us what you think about the app in the comments.

Now here are a few screenshots, courtesy of Android and Me. You can check out a full gallery there.

… and Xbox LIVE takes the win! They’ll obviously get an achievement rather than a trophy for this victory. Just a day or so ago the polls were holding steadily even so it was definitely in the home stretch here that XBLA pulled ahead. The final tally reads 19,858 for Xbox LIVE (57%) and 14,258 for PSN (41%), with a surprisingly small tie vote of only 939 (3%).

Thanks to everyone who voted this week! Were you disappointed with the results? Sound off in the comments!

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Genius Idea: TextMarks makes it easy to create SMS marketing campaigns by letting users send a text message with a custom keyword of your choice to 41411. You can also use TextMarks auto-post service to send out SMS messages to subscribers and also update Facebook and Twitter. As the Red Cross’s efforts in raising money for Haiti proved, text messages can be a powerful way to engage others and to spread information. It’s not just about joke-of-the-day subscriptions or other nonsense that you see at 2AM on TV — real money and real causes can be publicized through text.

TextMarks is a service that makes it really easy to set-up a mobile campaign to broadcast messages or updates to users that opt-in to your service by first texting a keyword.

What we like about TextMarks is that the service is easy to set-up and affordable. You can try out the service for free and send unlimited ad-supported messages each month, and ad-free plans start at $9.95 a month. For small businesses or small groups like churches or clubs, that’s a really nice option.

We also like that you can update Twitter and Facebook with the same messages you send out to other users. That way, if you’re using messages to keep people updated with scheduling information or other time-sensitive info, the message can go out across all of your social channels.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

A new version of Foursquare for the iPhone is on the way and it will feature a revamped interface, a brand new user tab, and a new checkin history view.

This version of the app – v1.6 – should be heading to the App Store soon. Nick Starr shared screenshots of it with us and we’ve included a few below so that you can see some of the new features.

Looking at the images from Foursquare 1.6, the first thing you’ll notice is that the interface has been totally revamped. The colors, icons and menu layout are all completely restyled and rearranged in a much more appealing manner.

For instance, check out the new Shout and User Profile pages. They look almost indistinguishable from their current iPhone counterparts:

There are also a few new features. For instance, users have a profile screen that contains checkin history and friends that is accessible directly from the menu at the bottom of the app.

Friends info pages have also been completely redesigned and friend-by-friend ping control is much more attractive.

All in all, just looking at the screenshots is making us drool. We’re not sure when this release will actually hit the App Store, but we wouldn’t bet against a SXSW release.

Update: OK, we think we’ve figured out what happened. For a few minutes earlier today, 1.6 was available via the App Store. The update was pushed out too early and Foursquare has since pulled the app. The company confirmed on Twitter that this was a little “pre-release hiccup,” adding that the app will be released “next week.” So next week boys and girls, next week!

According to Spiegel Online, DST made an offer to 17-year-old Andrey Ternovskiy to buy a piece of his booming website. He has yet to say yes though, as he is traveling to the U.S. to speak with American venture capitalists before taking any investment.

Multiple venture capitalists have apparently expressed interest in Chatroulette, which has more than 1.5 million visitors per day and a reputation for, well, extraordinary amounts of male exhibitionism. Some of the potential investors may include Google, Union Square Ventures and Skype.

Look, we understand why people would want to invest in Chatroulette: It’s hot, it’s fast-growing and it’s taken the web by storm. However, as we argued in an article earlier today, we believe that Chatroulette is unlikely to be the next Twitter — its primary functions are novelty and shock factor, not utility.

Unless Mr. Ternovskiy has a plan to turn the site into a legitimate business (with the male genitalia completely removed), we have a tough time seeing Chatroulette as a smart investment.

Do you agree? Would you invest in Chatroulette? Let us know in the comments.

Happy Friday, people! Along with the venerable tradition of Follow Friday, today also marks this week’s edition of the Friday Poll.

Last week we wanted to know if location checkin services freak you out in terms of privacy concerns. Reactions were pretty mixed, although many of you felt like services gave you enough control over permissions and what to make public. Some were concerned about the “digital divide” between early adopters who probably have the experience to know how to use the tools wisely, and the more general public who may end up confronting more privacy issues due to unfamiliarity with these services.

This week there’s another hot topic on the table, thanks to a comment made by Google’s European Director of Online Sales John Herlihy, who said that Google’s focus is squarely on mobile because “in three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs.”

We definitely wanted to find out what Mashable readers thought about the future of desktops in light of the push towards mobile: Will desktops still be around? Can these form factors co-exist or will mobile rule the day in short order? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Mashable Answers

Pete Cashmore: Desktops will be a lot less relevant versus laptops and phones. Even for processor-intensive tasks, high-end laptops often suffice.

Ben Parr: No — it will take a lot more time than that. However, you will start seeing app stores replacing traditional purchasing of software in three years.

Josh Catone: “Irrelevant” is a pretty strong word. I don’t know that desktops will ever be irrelevant as long as we continue to use computers. While mainstream users will undoubtedly gravitate toward small, fast, easier-to-use machines like laptops, smart phones, video game consoles, tablets and other connected devices for most of their day-to-day computing, there will likely continue to be a need for desktops in many corporate environments and for resource-intensive tasks (like editing film or rendering computer graphics).

Brenna Ehrlich: No. While it would probably be more cost effective to have one device that caters to your every need, it still remains difficult to both read and write on mobile devices. That all speaks to the permanence of devices such as laptops, but I’m not so sure about desktops.

Matt Silverman: Not completely, but certainly less relevant as we get more processing power into laptops and tablets. If we can do gaming and audio/video production equally as well on a portable computer, then why not?

Christina Warren: No. I think the paradigm will change and that secondary and mobile devices will grow in importance, but no, I don’t see desktops becoming irrelevant in three years.

Tamar Weinberg: Nope. PC gamers will always be reliant on the type of hardware that only desktops offer. Mobile technology will become a lot more prevalent, but as desktops are usually always ahead of the game in terms of feature set and power, desktops will still have a place.

Barb Dybwad: Even mainframes are still around so, no, I don’t think desktops will totally disappear. The rise of netbooks though shows that a lot of people just need “good enough” for a lot of tasks and are willing to trade performance for mobility in lots of use cases. But I agree with Tamar that gamers will still demand the PC hardware experience, and other power-intensive tasks like video-editing and multi-track audio will keep desktops in service for some time even as some users will be doing more of that on laptops and mobile devices too.

If you’re looking for some video entertainment to watch on your lunch break, this chart is a great place to start. Find a show you’re interested in and click the play button to the right to check it out.

February’s numbers contain quite an upset — long-time chart-toppers Fred and Happy Tree Friends gave way to a newcomer on the chart: The Annoying Orange. They still hold the #2 and #3 spots, respectively, however. Key of Awesome cracked the chart only recently, but it has already propelled itself to #4 with 300% growth since last month. Impressive!

And if what you’re looking for is a more elaborately produced drama, similar to what you might see on network TV, The Bannen Way, which includes Oscar-nominated actor Michael Lerner, makes an appearance on the chart this month. It’s tied with The Guild in leading Streamy Award nominations this year.

*The Visible Measures Top 10 Webisodes Chart focuses on digital studio-driven Web series that appear on Internet video-sharing destinations. Each Web series is measured on a True Reachô basis, which includes viewership of both studio-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data are compiled using the Visible Measures Viral Reach Database, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on more than 100 million Internet videos across more than 150 video-sharing destinations.

Note: This chart does not include vloggers, interviews, how-to series, news shows, or product review shows. View-count results are incremental by month.

To notify Visible Measures of an upcoming Web series, or for an end-to-end assessment of your campaign’s overall performance, please contact us directly.

The Annoying Orange

The Annoying Orange follows a formula that works. Most two to three minute episodes star a talking orange who annoys other fruits — usually in the kitchen. In many cases, the annoyed guest fruit’s day is made worse when he or she is chopped up and eaten at the end.

The series managed 29 million views in February, beating long-standing champion Fred by a wide margin.

The Bannen Way

This crime drama about a con man and womanizer doing one last job so he can pay off his debts and get out of the business is markedly different from the other shows on the chart. If you’re more into traditional television-style productions than goofy web videos, this is a show you’ll want to check it out.

There’s been some question as to whether or not tightly produced series like this one have a place on the web, but The Bannen Way is reaching an audience. It’s hard to say if it’s a big enough audience to justify the budget, though.

Unfortunately, we were only able to embed the trailer for this one, but you can watch episodes at the show’s Crackle page. Crackle is Sony Pictures Entertainment’s video streaming site that features professional content ported from broadcast and cinemas as well as made-for-web shows.

Other Highlights

College Humor has continued a strong presence with live-action comedies Jake & Amir and Hardly Working. We weren’t surprised to find that the former of those has a mostly male audience at 77%. If raunchy college student humor is your thing, that’s the network for you.

How It Should Have Ended made another appearance on the chart with an animated alternate ending for James Cameron’s massively successful film Avatar.

The Station, Smosh and Key of Awesome have become staples by this point, so be sure and check them out if you haven’t already!